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Mumbai Heat
Pak ready to send team for probe
Pak mum on identity of terrorists
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Rice warns Pak again
Obama wants to stamp out Mumbai-like
terror attacks
Muslims in US welcome Lakhwi’s arrest
Some royal cuts, savings in offing
Fifth-Gen Fighter
Nearly one billion hungry people worldwide: FAO
Malaysia frees militant suspected of al-Qaida links
6 Afghan cops killed in US air raid
Swraj Paul is Dy speaker in House of Lords
Germany approves EU mission to fight piracy
A heroic dog show
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20 recruited for Mumbai attacks missing: NYT
New York, December 10 India has no reason to believe the other 20 are in India, but that could be a possibility, the newspaper’s website quoted Mumbai’s police deputy commissioner Deven Bharti as saying on Tuesday. “Another 20 were ready to die,” Bharti said. “This is the very disturbing part of it.” It was the first time police had disclosed the larger number of suicide recruits from the Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba. They say only 10 gunmen took part in the Nov. 26-29 attacks in Mumbai that killed 171 people and raised tensions between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan. Information about the other recruits came from the sole surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, who was arrested during the attacks and has been in police custody since then. The 30 recruits were given highly specialised training, including marine combat skills, Bharti said. Once Lashkar leaders had selected Kasab and his nine fellow attackers, they were kept sequestered in a house for three months. They were then divided into two-man teams, each team assigned a different target within Mumbai to attack — information they were forbidden from sharing with one another, Bharti said. They never saw the other 20 trainees again, Bharti told the Times, according to information provided by Kasab. Indian police on Tuesday identified for the first time a fifth suspect in their probe into the attacks and disclosed new details of the weaponry they used. The new suspect was arrested in February along with Indian-born Fahim Ansari, who was caught carrying maps that highlighted a number of the city landmarks that were hit in the assault, lead Mumbai police investigator Rakesh Maria said. The man, who police identified only as Sabauddin, has been in jail in Uttar Pradesh with Ansari since they were arrested for an attack on a reserve police camp, Maria told a news conference. Investigators want to question them about their links to homegrown Islamist militant groups and the Mumbai attacks. Two others have been arrested for helping the gunmen get mobile phone cards, along with Kasab. “What we have learned from Kasab is they were told: open random fire, kill as many people as you can, take hostages, then go to a vantage location and stay put,” Maria said. Maria on Tuesday also identified the nine gunmen that were killed and released pictures of eight of them. One was burned too badly, so his picture was withheld, he said. Each of the 10 gunmen was armed with about a dozen grenades, a 9 mm pistol with two magazines, one AK-47 assault rifle with about seven magazines and 100-150 rounds of ammunition, he said. “They called themselves fedayeen squads,” he said, referring to the term for suicide attackers. — PTI
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Pak ready to send team for probe
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has assured India that action would be taken against all those using Pakistani soil for terrorism and said he was ready to send a delegation to India for investigations.
Talking to the media at Multan Airport, Gilani confirmed that Jamaat-ud-Dawat commander Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi along with several others of the group and some others associated with banned organisations suspected by India of involvement in Mumbai attacks have been arrested in raids. “Investigations are underway and action would be taken on the basis of these investigations,” the Prime Minister said. Lakhvi is accused by India of having given instructions to the attackers as their operations at the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus unfolded. About Indian claims that all attackers were Pakistanis, Gilani declined to make any comment until completion of the probe. He said action against any individual or organisation would be taken as per the Pakistani laws. About the whereabouts of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, the Prime Minister said he and many others of similar banned organisations were also under investigation. On reports that India has put its air force on high alert, Gilani asked the people not to panic on such reports. He said the Pakistan Army possesses highly professional expertise and Indian Air Force’s high alert was not a matter of concern. He acknowledged that the spate of attacks on the NATO supply trucks have dented the country’s prestige. But he pointed out that the security of trucks that were being attacked by militants inside Pakistan was the responsibility of the security companies also. Regarding Security Council resolution demanding extradition of former ISI senior officials including Hameed Gul, Gilani said the resolution has been put on hold. Gul was a Pakistani citizen and if any action were taken against him, it would be under Pakistani laws. Gilani appreciated political leaderships’ stance under the present circumstances. He said all political parties stood united against any foreign threat, while the media behaved responsibly. He said our foreign policy was best, as we have many friends in the world.
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Pak mum on identity of terrorists
Pakistan on Wednesday withheld any comment on the disclosure by authorities in Mumbai regarding identity of the nine militants killed in encounter during November 26 terror attack on Mumbai until “complete information is received and fully investigated by Pakistani agencies”.
“We have not as yet been conveyed any official list of those dead”, foreign office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told The Tribune when asked for comments. He said whatever information is being passed on to Pakistan on the Mumbai carnage is being duly examined and investigated by Pakistani agencies. The police in Mumbai released on Tuesday the names of nine dead attackers and their home towns in Pakistan. The lone survivor, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab, was earlier identified to belong to Faridkot village of Okara district, about 120 km from Lahore. The spokesman said Pakistan has already assured India it would take tangible action on the evidence provided to it about any Pakistani individual or organisation allegedly involved in the attack. Already a crackdown is underway against suspects. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of top commander of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, saying investigations regarding his involvement in the attacks were continuing. But officials denied media report that he had also named Zarar Shah who is believed to be the source of funding to the terrorists from Karachi. Pakistan has maintained that any individual or organisation found guilty of complicity would be tried in Pakistani courts but would not be handed over to India. Officials say there is no extradition treaty between the two countries though they have informally exchanged prisoners in the past under special arrangements.
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Rice warns Pak again
Washington, December 10 “... I think we have to be concerned because it’s obviously a time of great outrage in India. And what I emphasised was that this was a threat to both Pakistan and India these terrorists,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview to the National Public Radio. Pakistan, she stressed, needed to act
since its territory had been used by “these non-state actors to make those (Mumbai) attacks.” “Also, Americans were killed, which gave the United States a special responsibility,” Rice said. Amid reports of arrest in Pakistan of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, the two top commanders of LeT which is blamed for the Mumbai strikes, she said she was “pleased” to see that some “important steps” are being taken in Pakistan. “We are working hard to try and clarify and verify what is actually happening there, but there seem to be some positive steps being taken. The people who did this also wanted to abort what has been a positive direction in Pakistan-India relations,” Rice said. Noting that India and Pakistan were
on the brink of war after the 2001 attack on Indian parliament, she said the ties between the two countries are “very
different now.” “The Pakistani Government is a civilian government, a legitimate civilian government that has been reaching out to India, and vice versa. The Pakistani Foreign Minister was actually in India at the time that this took place. And so we have a lot to work with, and I think we’re making some progress,” Rice said.
— PTI
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Obama wants to stamp out Mumbai-like
terror attacks
Chicago, December 10 “The message I want to send is that we will be unyielding in stamping out the terrorist extremism we saw in Mumbai,” Obama said in an interview to Chicago Tribune. Stating that he had a “unique” chance to recalibrate America’s ties with the rest of the world, Obama, who will be sworn-in on January 20 as the 44th US President, says that he would travel to the capital of an Islamic nation to make a “major speech.” Obama (47), who would be the first black-American President in US history, said he planed to give a major address in an Islamic capital as part of his global outreach. He did not identify the country or the city. “The country must take advantage of a unique chance to recalibrate relations around the globe, through a new diplomacy that emphasises inclusiveness and tolerance as well as an unflinching stand against terrorism,” he said. Obama this week said India had the right to self-defence if attacked. If a country is attacked, it has a right to defend itself,” he told the US channel NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ programme when asked whether India could carry out hot pursuit of Pakistani militants over the border.
— PTI
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Muslims in US welcome Lakhwi’s arrest
New York, December 10 Several meetings were held in a number of American cities by Muslim organisations across the US after Id prayers, in which the assembled people condemned the deadly strikes on the metropolis and pledged to fight religious extremism.
— PTI
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Some royal cuts, savings in offing
London, December 10 The only factor setting her apart from the rest is the scale of her poverty, measured in millions of pounds and not pennies. After all, she is the queen. The latest report of Britain’s National Audit Office (NAO) reveals Queen Elizabeth has had to adopt stringent cost-cutting measures across all her palaces in the last one year. The attempts to reduce the household’s maintenance budget include cutting back on repairs, letting more properties and reducing the phone bill by more than 20 per cent. The queen’s annual maintenance grant of 15 million pounds from the department of culture, media and sport had not changed since 2000-01, a reduction of 19 per cent in real terms. In an attempt to deal with the shortfall, the royal household has more than doubled the number of properties it lets to 36, increasing the annual rent by nearly 100 per cent to 1 million pounds. The number of residents living in rent-free accommodation has been reduced since 2000 from 70 to 42. While the cost of utilities — in particular gas and electricity — has risen recently, the household reduced its utilities bill by 12 per cent in 2007-08. The measures taken included energy-saving initiatives such as combined heat and power plants that provide hot water as well as generating electricity. The new generation of units have helped to reduce the electricity consumption by seven per cent. A result of the shortfall — now standing at 32 million pounds — has been cutting back on palace repairs. The result has been a growing backlog of repairs at the occupied royal palaces, which comprise Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, St James’s Palace and parts of Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Mews and Windsor Home Park. The backlog includes 2.8 million pounds of conservation work to the Victoria and Albert Mausoleum near Windsor, which was identified as in need of repair 14 years ago and has been named by English Heritage as being at serious risk from lack of attention. All the palaces also require urgent repair to the woodwork. The furniture is worn out, even the drapes need changing. Buckingham Palace is suffering from heat leaks all over. The maintenance of the gardens surrounding the palaces has
been tawdry. Yet, there is no one hearing the royal pleas. The Times has reported that despite the royal household’s attempts to save money, the NAO and the Commons Public Accounts Committee said that it could do better. Edward Leigh, the committee chairperson, is quoted as saying: “The royal household has become more efficient in how it plans and manages its maintenance of the occupied royal palaces, in the face of real terms cut in funding, though more could yet be done.”
— IANS
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India, Russia set to start work
Beijing, December 10 The Russian-Indian advanced multi-role fighter is being developed by Sukhoi, which is part of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), along with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), under a inter-governmental agreement signed in Oct 2007. Russia and India will simultaneously develop two versions of the combat aircraft - a two-seat version to meet the requirements of India’s air superiority policy, and a single-seat version for the Russian Air Force. Pogosyan is in Beijing as part of a delegation accompanying Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who is leading the Russian side at the 13th Russian-Chinese Commission on Military and Technical Cooperation. Pgosyan told reporters that Russia and China are also set to boost cooperation in combat aircraft production. The commission is set to discuss further cooperation in aircraft production and particularly the licensed production of Su-27 and Su-30 planes in China. China has acquired 76 Su-27SK fighters from Russia since 1992, and bought a license for production of another 200 planes in 1995, in a deal worth $2.5 billion. However, the 1995 agreement did not include the transfer of avionics and AL-31F turbofan engine technology, and the Chinese manufacturers had to rely on the Russian supply of these systems. — IANS
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Nearly one billion hungry people worldwide: FAO
United Nations, December 10 In its latest report on hunger worldwide, FAO has said this backward step stemmed mainly from soaring food prices and warned that the situation might become worse by the international economic crisis. According to experts, the increase in the number of hungry people worldwide means that “in three years we lost virtually all progress made in 1990-2005.” In this regard, FAO representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jose Graziano da Silva, said the level of hunger in the region would be subject to the coming harvest results. “Governments must be on alert to assist farmers and prevent them from registering losses or contracting debts, all of which will prevent them from planting adequately for the coming year and 2010,” he added. According to FAO, Latin America and the Caribbean had their greatest success in reducing hunger before the soaring food price crisis, but this phenomenon made the hungry exceed 50 million people in 2007. — PTI
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Malaysia frees militant suspected of al-Qaida links
Kuala Lumpur, December 10 Yazid Sufaat, 44, had allegedly allowed his home to be used for meetings by members of radical terrorist group Al-Qaida in the planning of the US attacks, said Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan. Authorities detained Yazid under the Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial, in January 2002, Musa was quoted as saying by the Star online news portal. Yazid was released, along with a second Malaysian man, Nov 24, said Musa. "We released him as he had shown remorse and repentance after almost seven years of rehabilitation. "He was released on several conditions. He has to report to the police regularly and cannot leave (the state) without police permission. "Our officers will also be monitoring him as well as several others who have been released over the past years to ensure they do not go back to their old ways," said Musa. The report said the government has released 17 suspected members of the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah last year. Eight of those released were Indonesian nationals. Yazid, a US-trained biochemist and former military officer, has also been accused of having connections with Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged and convicted in the US for the attacks of September 11. — DPA
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6 Afghan cops killed in US air raid
Kabul, December 10 The attack was carried out at 3.00 a.m. (2230 GMT) when the coalition gunships attacked one police station in Qalat city killing at least six policemen and injuring 11, deputy chief of police Jailani Khan said. "One civilian was also killed when the bombs hit his house near the
police station," the police official said. Meanwhile, a statement released by US military said troops have mistaken the police station for a Taliban hide out as Afghan police fired on them after the troops battled and killed an armed militant nearby. The incident resulted from a "tragic case of mistaken identity on both sides", the statement said. Spiralling conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency have claimed more than 5,000 lives, some 2,000
of them civilians, till date this year. — Xinhua
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Swraj Paul is Dy speaker in House of Lords
London, December 10 Though people of Indian origin have held ministerial berths in the British cabinet, this is the first time an Indian has been appointed to such a high position in UK’s Parliament. “I am honoured,” said Lord Paul in his reaction to the announcement. He said it was an honour “for a person who comes from a freedom fighters’ family from India. The deputy speaker presides over the House of Lords session, when Lord Chancellor is not
present. — PTI
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Germany approves EU mission to fight piracy
Berlin, December 10 The 12-month mandate would focus on deterring and preventing pirate attacks that have proliferated in the Gulf of Aden and recently targeted to cruise liners in addition to cargo vessels. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the approval has not been publicly announced, said the mandate allowed the use of “necessary measures” to prevent acts of piracy. The 12-month mandate must still be approved by Parliament.
— AP
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A heroic dog show
Santiago, December 10 A surveillance camera on a Santiago freeway captured images of a dog trotting past speeding cars to pull the lifeless body of the other canine, which had been run over by a vehicle, away from traffic and onto the median strip. The scene was broadcast by Chilean television stations and then posted on websites such as YouTube.com, and hundreds of thousands of people had viewed versions of it by on Monday. Highway crews removed both the dead and live dogs from the median strip of the Vespucio Norte Highway shortly after the December 4 incident. But the rescuer dog ran away. —
AP
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